


Parenthood

by boredom



Series: BWNSG [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humor, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 07:19:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17762312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredom/pseuds/boredom
Summary: Ulaz wants kids. Thace isn't so sure he's cut out for parenthood. Coran is amused.





	Parenthood

**Author's Note:**

> A fun, fluffy little fic that I wrote instead of working on my other Fics. Sorry guys, I will update them both soon. I promise!

Thace and Coran were sitting in the kitchen going over reports separately when Coran decided to pose a question. 

“Have you and Ulaz every thought about having children?” It had been on his mind for awhile. Both Thace and Ulaz were good with the Paladins and there were many children throughout the universe that could use a good home. 

“Not now, obviously,” he added, “but, you know, in the future, when things have settled down.”

Thace sighed and put down his data pad. “Ulaz wants kids, but--”

“You don’t?” He wasn’t sure if Thace’s admission surprised him or not. On one hand, children certainly weren’t for everyone and even if you were good with kids, that didn’t mean you wanted them. On the other hand, Thace would make a good father, Coran was sure of it. 

“It’s not that I don’t want kids,” Thace said. “There are just,” he paused and ran a hand down his face. “I just don’t think I’d be very good at being a parent.”

“Really?”

“Kids are difficult. There are no practice runs or trials and there are so many things that could go wrong, I’m not sure I’d want that responsibility on my shoulders.” 

“What are you so worried about, my boy?” If Ulaz wanted children and Thace sounded like he wanted children as well, perhaps Coran could help assuage some of these fears and convince him to fully commit to being a parent. 

Thace sighed. “Um, I don’t know. I guess there’s the fact that I have to be able to predict everything a child might need.” 

“Like?” 

“Like, kids need things and I would have to be able to predict it and be able to complete it for them. Sometimes they don’t tell you what they need, either because they can’t or they don’t want to. I’m not sure I could handle that.”

Just then, Pidge stumbled into the kitchen. Without a word, Thace stood up, walked over to the cupboard, undid the lock (Coran had yet to get the combination) poured the child a cup of steaming tea, put it in her hands, and sent her back out the door. 

He sat back down and Coran stared at him, wondering if he got the irony. 

Thace sighed and started picking at the table. “I’m afraid I won’t be very good at predicting their needs and something might happen because of it.”

“Right.” Apparently Thace did not get the irony. “What else are you afraid of?”

“You have to be able to say no, right?” 

“I suppose so.” 

“Children don’t always know what’s best for them and I’m not sure I would be able to hold strong if they wanted something I knew was bad for them.”

This had to be a joke. Thace was the best person when it came to saying no. He constantly said no no matter what the paladins asked for. 

“Are you sure you can’t say no?” 

“I can barely say no to Ulaz. Even then he wins more than I do.” 

Lance came into the kitchen next and made a beeline over to cookies Hunk had freshly made that morning. 

“Lance, no,” Thace said in a voice that let everyone in the room know that he was not messing around. 

“But, I only had one this morning and I’m starving after those drill you gave us,” Lance complained. 

“Then you can have a piece of fruit. Cookies aren’t good for you.” 

Lance did his best impression of a kicked yarnol, with large, watery eyes and the picture perfect look of innocence. Thace was unphased. 

“You can have another one after dinner.” 

He groaned and stomped out the door. 

“And don’t ask Ulaz for one either!” Thace called after the boy. “I know how many are left.” 

“Right,” Coran said, still wondering how in the universe Thace thought he wouldn’t be a good parent. “Any other problems that might occur?”

“How long do you have?” Thace laughed. “They’re also unpredictable. I mean, I can predict what certain groups will do because I know what their end goals are. But kids don’t have ‘end goals’. They can change what they want at a moment’s notice and I’m not sure I can keep up and accurately predict what they’re going to do and why.” 

Keith poked his head into the kitchen and then darted back out. 

“Keith, get in here!” Thace barked. 

Keith shuffled into the kitchen, his shoulders slumped forward. 

Thace crossed his arms and studied him. “I know you weren’t checking to see if I was in here so that you could go practice your knife skills.” 

Keith crossed his arms and stared at his feet. 

“I developed the training plan specifically with each of your talents in mind. If you work beyond what I have prepared for you, you’ll hurt yourself and you won’t be able to fight.” 

“God, can’t you just let me practice throwing? It barely takes any work!” He threw his hands up in the air and stomped out the door. 

“Keith, leave your knife.”

He stomped back in and put the blade on the table and stomped back out again, muttering about how Thace had eyes in the back of his head. 

Thace pocketed the knife and continued to speak. “Plus, what happens when their emotions become too much for them? Children seem to experience everything so intensely and you know me, Coran, you know that I'm not exactly the best when it comes to dealing with more complex and intense emotions.”

Coran was about to point out that, despite Thace’s gruff exterior, he wasn’t terrible at dealing with the vast array of emotions when Hunk walked in, shoulders slightly hunched and a face that screamed sadness. He sat back and let Thace do his work. 

“What’s the matter, Hunk?” Thace asked. 

“Huh, oh nothing. I’m fine.” 

Thace sighed and stood up, walking over to the boy. “You’re not fine. What’s the matter? I can’t help if I don’t know.” It was said gently and with a certain amount of kindness. 

“It’s stupid, I swear.” 

“If it’s so stupid, then why don’t you want to tell me about it?” 

Hunk nodded. “It’s just, today, during team training, I felt like I was the only who wasn’t contributing. And then I started to think that maybe I don’t really matter to the team. I mean, Pidge can hack, Lance can shoot, Keith can fly and Shiro can fight, but what can I do besides cook? It’s not like I can cook the Galra empire into submission. I don’t want to be a drag on the team, but I can’t help but feel like I’m not doing anything and—“

“Hunk, breath,” Thace instructed. He put his hands on the boy’s shoulders and made a show of taking a big inhale, which Hunk copied. Once his breathing was under control and he stopped rambling, he continued. “You do have a place on this team. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have you fighting.”

“What is it? Cause I don’t feel like I do anything important.”

“Well for one, you act as a mediator between Lance and Keith when Shiro doesn’t have time to. You also are a powerhouse when it comes to fighting. The others, their weapons and fighting styles are more accurate, but yours are more destructive. We need you because you can do a lot of damage to the enemy quickly. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to do nearly as much when fighting a battle.” 

Hunk smiled and nodded. “Yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense. I trust you.” And with that, he went on his way.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be a good parent?” 

Thace sat back down and huffed. “I’m sure. There’s also the whole mood swing thing. What if my kid comes in, yells at me for no reason, and then I yell back? I know with teenagers there are so many things going on and they don’t always have the patience or experience to deal with those emotions properly. But what if I yell at them and make things worse?” 

Allura came in, stomping her way over to the cookies. 

“Hello, Allura, how are you?” Thace said. 

She huffed and whirled around at them. “Can’t I come into the kitchen without being interrogated?” 

Even Coran shrank back when she spoke. 

“Is everything alright?” Thace asked, undeterred by Allura’s outburst. 

She grabbed a cookie. “Fine. Can we just drop it?” She stomped out of the kitchen.

“I wonder what happened?” Coran said, once Allura was safety out of earshot. 

Thace shrugged. “She’s probably just stressed. I’ll make some tea later to help her sleep tonight and see if she feels better in the morning. You know, there’s also the fact that kids are going to be reliant on you to a certain extent until they day you die,” he continued. 

Coran couldn’t wait to hear how this one played out. 

“If you do your job right, kids will always come to you for help, no matter how old they get. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to deal with having someone always having me as their first point of contact when there’s a problem. At some point, they got to leave the nest, but at the same time, I understand that they trust you completely and totally. I’m just not sure I’m cut out to help someone who is clearly an adult and should be helping themselves.” 

Shiro walked in, looking tired and cradling his right arm to his body. He spotted Thace and Coran and made his way over. 

“Hey, Thace?” he asked, sitting across from them, “my arm is really bothering me. Do you think you could help?” 

Thace nodded and immediately dug through the small first aid kit in the kitchen and began spreading some cream where the skin was fused to the metal. Despite the fact that Shiro could have done this himself or gotten someone else to help, Thace didn’t complain and even helped Shiro bind his arm to his torso when he was done. 

“Was it hurting during training?” 

Shiro shook his head. “I think I was sleeping on it funny. I woke up with it hurting.” 

“Maybe go see Ulaz later if it’s still hurting and I’ll help you bind it before you go to bed to take some of the pressure off.” 

Once Shiro had left, Coran leaned forward. “Are there any other reasons you don’t think having children would be a good idea?” 

Thace thought for a moment. “I guess one other.” 

“Great, let’s hear it.”

“When you have kids, your relationship with your partner changes. I’m afraid that once I have a kid, Ulaz and I won’t be as intimate. We’ll be pulled in too many directions. I know things are going to change between Ulaz and I, but I’m worried that having kids will change things too much. I’m still very attracted to him, and don’t want to lose our time together.” 

Ulaz walked in then. Well, he didn’t walk so much as hobble in, using the counter to help balance him as he sat on the chair and winced. 

“Goodness,” Coran said, seeing some telltale bruises peeking out from beneath Ulaz’s collar. “He really did a number on you last night.” 

Ulaz glared at him, and then at Thace. “Yes, he did” 

“Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted to be a little rougher last night.” 

“I didn’t mean to the point where I could sit down today!” He winced and rubbed his backside. 

“Good to see you two still have a healthy sex life,” Coran said. 

“Yeah, it’s been a bit more difficult with the kids around, but we manage most of the time,” Thace said. 

Coran smiled and shook his head. He patted Thace on the arm and said, “You don’t need to worry. I think you would make an excellent parent.” And took his leave. 

“What was that about?” Ulaz asked, once Coran had left. 

“He wanted to know if we wanted kids and then listened while I listed all of my worries.” 

“Oh, did you come to some sort of revelation?” Ulaz took his hand in his own and gave it a squeeze. 

“I still think that I’d mess up our kid somehow. I really feel I’m not cut out for this whole parenting thing.” 

Ulaz simply smiled and squeezed Thace’s hand again. He’d convince him, eventually.


End file.
